Cynorkis kassneriana flower

Image information

Description

The individual flowers of Cynorkis kassneriana are subtended by narrow green bracts that become as long as 1,2 cm. The bracts taper to acutely pointed tips. The green, ridged ovary of the resupinate flower may exceed 1 cm in length. It is covered in glandular hairs as are many of the floral parts visible in the photo.

The median sepal of the flower is ovate, helmet-shaped with an acute tip, the lateral ones ovate but obliquely shaped, spreading widely or deflexed. The lateral petals, darker and less hairy or not hairy in the photo, adhere to the median sepal as margins to the hood above.

The lip below divides into three roughly triangular lobes, the central one much larger than the short laterals. The large spur at the lip base tapers to its rounded brown tip, becoming up to 1 cm long.

The column which includes the male and female floral parts, is about 3 mm tall, half hidden inside the hood (www.zimbabweflora.co.zw; www.africanorchids.dk).